Are we seeing the last of the Dan Warthen influence on Mets pitchers? Matt Harvey pitched last night like the power pitcher he’s been advertised as. Harvey went almost exclusively with his fastball and slider and more importantly he threw inside and challenged hitters. Harvey went away from the Warthen School of Pitching which is nibble, nibble and nibble some more. Harvey pitched a man’s game last night even plunking Ryan Ludwick in the shoulder and of course Ludwick gave the phony tough guy stare down as he went to first base, because he’s a rook, Harvey just let Ludwick have his fake tough guy moment but I’d bet if Harvey had a couple of season under his belt, he’s have told Ludwick to take his ass down to first base.

Justin Turner in the outfield in 2013? You cannot be serious Terry, you just can’t. I have to think Collins was talking out his ass on this one, as it make absolutely no sense ,hell, Turner back for 2013 doesn’t make much sense. Don’t the Mets have an overabundance of outfielders without any power?

Heard a rumor that Sandy Alderson sent a link to the video of Jason Bay’s home run last night to Brian Sabean with the message “Com’on Brian you know you want him”

I can get the Mets going to a 6 man pitching rotation being that Johan and Young could benefit from the extra days rest as could Jon Niese, who at some point has to show he strong enough to pitch effectively in second half of the season and as long as Dickey and Harvey stay on schedule, it’s all good but why does the spot guy have to be Jeremy Hefner? I hope come September 1st the club calls up Collin McHugh and let him take that spot or Jenry Mejia. Seriously, enough of Jeremy Hefner.

The way some Mets fans are acting toward the hiring of Terry Collins, you’d think he was taking over a contending team. Do you people realize that the NY Mets as constituted today are barely a .500 team? I guess I have to be the myth buster around here, the Mets will not make the post season in 2011. Sorry for the smack in the face but some Mets fans need a dose of reality.

As I’ve written before there are times the Mets fan base just amazes me, Terry Collins hasn’t even put pen to contract yet and fans are ready to fire him. Can we wait at least one week into the regular season before we make up the Twitter account @FireTerryCollins?

Am I 100% happy with the Collins hire? No not really, but I’m not screaming about it as a disaster waiting to happen either. I look at the positives here, that Alderson and not Jeffey Skill Sets is making the baseball decisions. Collins was the minor league coordinator so he has knowledge of what’s worth keeping and what’s not in the Mets farm system. I watched Collins at a pre-season workout for the Brooklyn Cyclones this summer and he and Mookie Wilson were running from station to station working with players and conferring with Wally Backman, Benny DiStefano (hitting coach) and Rick Tomlin (pitching coach) so energy and instruction are definitely Collins strong suit.

Collins intensity can make some players uncomfortable, but isn’t that what has been sorely lacking in the Mets clubhouse? Haven’t the bunch of underachievers that reside in that room been living the high life for too long? Isn’t it about time somebody with authority dealt with these “woe is me” players and get them to man up and stop shitting in their snow white pants when the Phillies or Braves come up on the schedule? Mets fans have been crying for a tough guy right? So here you are. Maybe for the first time in years, the players will be held accountable.

The biggest reservation I have with Collins is he quit as manager twice, with the Angels and in Japan. That scares me it’s as if the going gets tough; it seems Collins gets going, out the door. Of course Sandy Alderson brought this up during the interview session I’m sure and he was satisfied with the answer he got so I guess I should be too. Collins has not run a team in ten years and that raises a red flag with me as well.

The Collins hire is not outrageous enough for to be well.. outraged. Sure it would have been nice to see BACKMAN 6 strutting to the plate on opening day with his first lineup card as a big league manager but that’s the Mets fan in me talking. The guy who is now in charge feels that Terry Collins gives him all that he’s looking for in a manager with an edge in personality. At this point in the Alderson Era who am I or you to question the move?

What it tells me also is the Mets are going to get younger and there is a big premium going to be placed on home grown talent. Sandy Alderson on day one said the farm system he has inherited is in the middle of the pack and for a team like the Mets with its resources, that’s unacceptable. That’s what should be the focus of Mets fans, not who will be the manager for the next two seasons. Cliff Lee at 32 years of age with back trouble? Let the Highlanders over pay in years and money for him. Jayson Werth? Let the Tigers spend all that awful pizza money on him. If the Mets eat the Perez/Castillo dough then the off season is a success and you know now there is no way in hell either of those two slugs are coming back.

Rejoice Mets fans that we have guys with a clue and a plan running the baseball operations for our beloved Mets. I know it’s hard to optimistic with the all the horseshit we’ve endured the last few years but I think the new regime will get us out this mess and back on the road to winning.

Someday, when that someday will be I don’t know, but someday a big league manager is going to have the brains and the confidence to do away with the role of the closer. Maybe that day will be when Mariano Rivera retires, which may not be for another ten years but I hope that whoever is hired by the Mets makes on of his first command decisions that the day of saving your best arm for just the ninth inning is over. The only team that can still say they have a legitimate pitcher to finish a game are the Highlanders and until mangers like Texas’ Ron Washington, get this though their thick skulls, they just might win more baseball games than they lose.

If Nolan Ryan is going to be the new tough guy in the Rangers front office when he claims that it’s time to re-evaluate the way bullpens are used and develop starting pitchers who should be conditioned to pitch deep into their starts, he might like to have a little sit down with Washington today before game two and let him know, when the game is on the line and you feel you’ve gotten all you can out of your starter, bring in the best arm you have in the pen.

I’m not looking to kill Ron Washington here as he managed the way every big league manager would have in that eighth inning, plus Darren Oliver and Darren O’Day needed to step up and how in the world does Ian Kinsler have a brain fart in the eighth getting picked off?

The Rangers had the Highlanders on the ropes and bleeding but they lacked that killer instinct, that solid knockout punch, hopefully they can turn the page and go out today and tattoo Phil Hughes, if not, the who gives a shit what Cliff Lee does in Game 3?

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